The Supreme Court on Thursday told Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to mind the line after his announcement to publish the draft roll of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by December 31. The caution to the Assam CM came as it is the Court which is monitoring the matter for the past three years.
The work on revising the NRC, the first of its kind project initiated by the apex court to provide a record of native Assamese that may help in identification of illegal migrants who arrived in the State post-1971, has been going on under the supervision of the Court. On December 17, 2014, the Court even set a deadline of January 31, 2016 for completion of the work.
State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela, who was appointed by the Court, had informed on previous occasions that the work is voluminous and can be published only by March 31, 2018. After the Court had agreed to grant time and even allocated budget for the same, it was surprised by the Chief Minister's statement promising the delivery of the NRC by December 31, 2017.
The bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman asked Hajela present in Court, "We were told by you that the work will be completed only by March 31, 2018. We do not appreciate any other authority intervening in the matter of preparation and publication of NRC rolls when we are monitoring the process." Hajela said that it was possible to do the work by December 31 and this assessment was made by him prior to CM's statement.
But the Court was not amused. "Its is not fair to the Court which has expended time, money and energy for over two years on this project. When this Court is monitoring, we don't see any reason for any person or agency to step in and say we will do it."
Counsel for the state government clarified that the Chief Minister made the statement with good intention. However, the bench noted, "If he has an intention to intervene, its good…let him supervise. We will wash off our hands."
Revising the deadline for NRC roll publication to December 31, 2017, the Court asked the Centre and state authorities to extend all budgetary and administrative support required to complete the work on time. In addition, Hajela was asked to report to the Court any interference or obstacle posed by any person or agency.
On the Indo-Bangladesh border, fencing work of less than 13 kilometre land remained, informed the Centre. The bench raised concerns over how the 48.11-kilometre riverine border with Bangladesh still remained "porous" and unfenced. The judges were informed that former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, who supervised the fencing, has expressed inability to continue. The Court said it will choose a person based on suggestions made by Centre and parties in the case after a week.